Inside job, a Vault 909 story
by Brickc16
Summary: Josh Romano is forcefully thrown out of his old life when a group of men attack Vault 707. He and his friend Briana run away to a nearby town called Ailsville. where they make a new life. but they find that the Vault attack was an inside job.
1. Ailsville

**October 23****rd****, 2077**

The bombs were launched by God knows who. Most people didn't go to the Vaults when the alarm went off, thinking it was a false alarm, the Vaults sealed themselves, never to let anyone in... or out...

**Chapter 1**

**January 15th, 2277**

"_Here in Vault 909 you can choose where you want to end up." "No need for chores, trusty Mr. Handy will clean up after you." "Are you hurt? No problem, just come purchase some Stimpacks!"_

Josh Romano slammed the snooze button on his alarm clock. He looked at the time: _6:30a.m_.

He laid back down to sleep, but was hastily shaken awake. He looked up to see his older brother Johnny.

"Johnny," Josh said in a sleepy tone. "What the hell?"

"Come on Josh!" Johnny urged, "Get up! Something is wrong!"

Josh sat up in his bed. Aware, now, that the emergency alarm was going off.

"What's wrong?" he asked his brother.

"I don't know, but Josh," He said, a sad look in his eyes, "Mom and Dad are dead."

That was it, that was the deciding factor, Johnny wasn't kidding. And now Josh realized that they had to get out of there. He jumped out of bed and got his jumpsuit. He ran to the wardrobe and grabbed his medpack, and his money, and he put it all into his new and improved Pip-Boy 3000.

Turned to Johnny, and gasped. There was a man with a gun behind him aimed at his head.

"Johnny look out!" he shouted, but it was too late as soon as he said it, the man pulled the trigger and Johnny was dead.

"NO!" Josh yelled. And he charged at the man and tackled him. He kneed the man in the groin and punched him in the face. "you... son... of... a... bitch!" he yelled between strikes. He took the man's gun and held it to his head.

"Go ahead Vaulty," the man said, "shoot me, reading about killing is different from doing it. Go ahead! Unless your not man enough!"

Josh look at him, and shot him in the gut. "Let the bugs get to you," Josh said. And he turned to leave. He looked around, there was no one around. He crouched, easier to sneak that way, and made his way to the auditorium. He rounded a corner but quickly jumped back around. There were three men with big guns. He jumped out of his hiding spot and ran forward several feet. The men turn just as Josh went into his VATS mode and chose selected both their heads. He felt his arm being pulled up by the Pip-Boy, and then pulled the trigger, one man down. His arm was pulled again and the Pip-Boy beeped and he pulled the trigger just as the man was pulling up his gun. He crumpled to the floor. Josh walked up and picked up the two men's guns. He started forward again, passing by dead bodies, people he knew, and grew up with. He rounded a corner and just narrowly managed to duck as someone swung a baseball bat at his head. He looked up and saw his best friend, Briana Larson, ready to swing again. Then she caught glimpse of his face and lowered the bat.

"Christ," Josh said, standing up. "Bri, watch yourself will you?"

Bri blushed, "Sorry," she said, "I thought you were one of those damn Wastelanders."

"Wastelanders?" Josh asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Those guys!" She explained, "The ones that set off the alarm, they came through the Vault door!"

"What! But how? The Vault has been sealed for 200 years!"

"Well, I guess they found a way to open it."

Just then Josh saw a man run around the corner behind Bri.

"Shit, get back!" he yelled and pulled her around the corner as the man started to fire. A bullet lodged itself into Josh's arm as he dived behind the wall. They heard footsteps running toward them and when the man turned the corner Bri slammed the baseball bat against his head. As she hit him he went along with the bat and hit the wall, his head squished like a grape. Bri turned to Josh, who had slid to the floor.

"Are you okay?" She asked him he pulled a stimpack out of his pocket and injected it into his arm. He felt the bullet being forced from his arm and heard the *clank* and felt his skin begin to heal itself.

"Yeah," he said, wincing a little as his skin tugged. "Let's find a way outta here."

"You mean... leave the Vault?"

"Yeah, we have no choice! We have to leave."

Bri looked defiant, but realized he was right.

"Okay," she said. "Do you know where the Vault door is?"

Josh looked down at his Pip-Boy, it showed the Vault door on his map and he set a marker so the GPS would show him where to go.

"This way," he said turning to run down the hall he had just come from. They ran for awhile, not meeting anyone along the way. It wasn't until they got to the corridor leading to the Vault door when they stopped dead. There were voices coming from the other side of the hall door leading to the exit to the Vault.

"Alright, eliminate anyone left in the Vault, I want them dead got it?

Josh didn't know how they were going to get out of the Vault with all those guys in front of the door.

Just then, the door flew open and a big burly man was standing there. He had a bushy mustache and a balding head. He looked down at Josh and Bri and smiled.

"Well hello Boy-o," he said, grabbing Josh and Bri. He shoved Bri into a group of men who "hoho"ed and "Hey there sweetheart"ed. They all started to grab at her and she screamed.

"Hey!" Josh yelled, struggling to get out of the burly man's grasp, "Hey, leave her alone assholes!"

The men closed in on Bri and she screamed on last time, then there was a gun shot. The men turned and saw the burly man clutching at his side. No one bothered searching Josh and he managed to get a gun from his Pip-Boy. He was currently aiming at the men. The laughed and started walking toward him.

**BANG! **One man dead. They all looked at each other and charged at Josh.

**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! **They all fell.

Bri looked up and saw Josh standing over her, hand outstretched to help her up. She accepted the help and they looked at each other. They turned and started toward the exit of the Vault, they couldn't stay, the gun shots would surely attract anymore men in the Vault and they couldn't risk still being there. They walked out into the sunshine, squinting their eyes. They were accustomed to the florescent lights in the Vault. Nevertheless they walked forward a few feet. They looked around, looks of disgust on their faces. The wastes were worse than anyone in the Vault could've ever imagined.

"We should get going," Josh said, starting forward. Bri followed close behind him.

They walked for about an hour when they came across a sign, it was a large pallet of wood with words sloppily painted on it. The sign read: _Ailsville_.

So they made their way in the direction the sign pointed, but when they had only gotten 10-15 feet from the sign they were stopped by a man dressed in all leather and aviator sunglasses. He had a metal baseball bat that he was resting on his shoulder.

"Hey kiddies," he said, bringing the bat down and bringing it up and down on his hand. "there's a, uh, tax to get any further."

"A tax?" Bri asked.

"A tax," the man repeated. "I'd say, 100 caps."

"Caps?" Bri asked, confused.

"God," the man said, "what, did you two just crawl outta a hole or somethin'?" he looked down at their clothes and looked back up. "I guess so... well, okay, how about this," he looked at Josh and said, "You gimme the girl and I'll let you through."

Josh looked down, he let out a fake chuckle, and looked back up.

"Or," he started and he whipped out a machine gun he had take from one of the Vault intruders and aimed it at the man's head, "you can just let us by and in payment I won't scatter your brains across the ground."

The man turned a sick looking greenish color.

He took a few steps back and said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Heh heh, I was just kidding man, go ahead through." He turned and ran away.

"Come on," Josh said to Bri, and they started back toward the town again.

They walked in silence most of the way, then Bri broke the silence.

"That was pretty stupid thing you did back there," she said.

Josh looked at her, he said, "I'm not gunna let some asshole stand in our way when I can just flash my gun in his face and get him to move."

"Not that," she said, looking at her feet. "In the Vault. You could've gotten yourself killed."

"Yeah," Josh said, he looked back ahead of him, "But at least you would've gotten out of there alive."

Bri looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. But before she could say anything more they turned around a giant boulder and there was the town of Ailsville. It was a dinky little place but they went in nevertheless. When they got to the gate a voice caught their attention, they looked around but couldn't find the source.

"Hey, up here!" they looked up to see a man in what seemed like a guard post. "What do you want?"

Josh cleared his throat and yelled up, "We need refuge. Some men are after us, they killed everyone in the Vault to the south."

The man seemed to comprehend what Josh was saying. He yelled, "Open the gates."

He called down the Josh and Bri, "Alright you two you can come in, but keep your gun holstered."

The two Vault dwellers walked into Ailsville and looked around. There wasn't much there, some small houses and a bar. They looked over and saw the guard that was in the guard tower walking down to them.

"Welcome to Ailsville," he said. "My name is Mark, I'm the leader of Ailsville. If you're gunna start trouble you'll have me to answer to."

"We don't plan on making trouble," Josh assure the Mayor of Ailsville.

"So who are these people who are after you?" Mark asked.

"We don't know," Josh said, "they just broke into the Vault and attacked."

"Well, do daily chores around town and we will keep you safe."

"Wow, thanks!," Josh said, surprised people in the wastes actually looked out for strangers, "Can you point us toward a place to stay?"

"You could try the bar, there's an inn in there."

"Thanks," Josh said to him and he and Bri went towards the bar. They walked inside and were bombarded with the smell of vomit and alcohol.

"Mmm," Josh said, feeling sick, "Home sweet home. Wait here," he told Bri and he walked over to the bar.

"Excuse me," he asked, the man behind the bar turned around and Josh was shocked to find that the guy had no hair, his skin was peeling off and his eyes looked like marbles. "Jesus Christ!" Josh breathed.

"What?" the man said. "Never seen a ghoul before?" The man looked over Josh and saw the big 909 written across his chest. "Oh, another Vaulty."

"I'm sorry," Josh said, "Did you say, '_another_ Vaulty'?"

"Yeah? What's it to you?"

"Well... when did you see another Vault dweller?" Josh asked.

"Uh, just half an hour ago."

"What! What was his name?"

"I don't know and I don't care, he paid for his drink and left. I don't have time to learn all my friggin' customers' names!"

"Sorry," Josh apologized, "It's just, the Vault was attacked this morning. Men stormed the Vault, killed everyone except me and my friend," he jerked his head toward Bri. "And if someone got out, I figure they might no more on the attack."

The ghoul looked sympathetic, he said, "Hey, man I didn't mean to snap. I've had quite a day. Your Vaulty friend came in with these two big thugs and they caused a lot of problems."

"Wait," Josh said, "Thugs? Were they wearing these jumpsuits?"

"Nope," the ghoul said, "they had these weird eye piece things though."

"Son of a bitch..." Josh swore. "Someone on the inside of the Vault let those guys in..."

"Well if it helps this guy seemed pretty old. He probably went into the Vault 50 years ago when it was open."

"Wait, it was open before?" Josh asked shocked.

"Yep, they had it open for decades, then decided to close it up for some reason."

"Wow... thanks, hey you guys have a room open?"

"Yeah, we got one. You lookin' to stay?"

"Yeah, but we don't have any of these cap things you guys use as currency."

"Ah, well no big deal. Tell you what, why don't you work for me, and that will be payment for your room."

"Really? You would do that?"

"Sure! Just until you get a place of your own."

"Thanks, uh, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, Shawn. Shawn Johnson."

"Well, Mr. Johnson. It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Josh Romano," he said, extending his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, kid," Shawn said, shaking Josh's hands.


	2. The Traitor

**January 15****th****, 2278**

It had been a whole year since Vault 909 was opened and most of it's occupants were killed. A whole year since Josh Romano and Bri Larson escaped and ran away to a small town in the wastes, Ailsville, and began their new lives, in the Wastes. But it was also a whole year since Josh learned that the attack on his home, his friends, and family, was an inside job. Someone he knew, caused it to happen.

**J**osh woke up, fresh from a good nights sleep. He looked across the room to see that Bri was still asleep. He got up and got dressed, wearing his polo t-shirt and ripped blue jeans. He had grown a small beard within the year he had begun a new life. He looked at his Pip-Boy, and saw the date. Realization struck him, today is the day that his family had been killed. Everyone he knew had been dead for a whole year. He prayed for them all before he left for work.

He opened his front door and walked out into the nice cool air of dawn. He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes. He had grown fond of the life in the wasteland. Even if everything was dank and dead. He ran down the hill and walked toward Shawn's bar. He walked in to find Shawn at the bar, washing glasses.

"Mornin'," he said when he saw Josh walk in.

"Mornin'," Josh replied gloomily.

"What's your problem?" Shawn asked.

"It's been a whole year man," Josh told him.

"Really?" Shawn said, eyebrows rising. "Wow, to think, you've been pissin' me off for a whole year," the ghoul said, chuckling.

"Yeah, and it's been a year since I first laid eyes on your ugly as fuck face," Josh said. "I still nearly have a heart attack whenever I see you." He and Shawn always talked rudely to each other, they didn't really mean any of the things they say and the other knew that.

"Heh, yeah yeah, now get to work slacker before I throw you out with the Muties."

Josh walked over to a table, laughing softly. He took the chairs down from on top and set some glasses down. By the time they opened the bar looked less like a hellhole and more like home. Of course, no one would really be in the bar until noon. As much as civilization had gone downhill people still stuck to one moral, drinking after noon, unless of course you just got back from a job that involved pissed off Muties and a gun with 5 bullets left.

Come eight o'clock however, Bri came in to visit Josh before heading out to help any who needed it. She had been crying.

"Hey," Josh greeted her, and when he looked up he felt even worse than he had when he came into work. "Realized what day it was, huh?"

"I realized it last night, I didn't get to sleep until five," she said with a yawn.

"Well, just think, we've lived a good life out here, I nice happy life for a whole year. So don't think about it as the first whole year we left the Vault, think of it as the first whole year we entered our new life."

This seemed to cheer Bri up because she looked up into Josh's eyes. Something had been up with her lately, Josh had been catching her staring up at him a lot in the past few weeks. He looked into her eyes too when he heard Shawn whisper to him.

"Josh," he hissed. "Lemme talk to you for a minute."

Josh broke eye contact with his life long friend and walked over to the corner that Shawn led him over to.

"You see the guy at the corner table?" he asked. Josh saw him and nodded. "That's one of the thugs that was with the Vaulty I saw before you showed up last year."

Josh took a minute to process this, then his eyes shot up to Shawn's and Shawn nodded. He glanced over at the man again, thinking of a plan on how to approach him, when just then the man raised his hand up and called to them.

"'Ey, barman!" he called, slightly slurry, "can I get another over please?"

"I'll take it," Josh said.

"Alright but don't get too hasty, I don't want blood in my bar."

Josh walked over with a beer and set it down.

"Here you are," he said. "Have I seen you before?"

"Ahh?" the man grunted.

"I think I saw you, a year ago. You came through with another large gentleman and a more small man, kind of old?"

"Oh yeah!" the man said, face brightening up. "Good old Morty McCole!"

"McCole you say?" Josh said, trying to keep his voice even, McCole was the _Overseer_ in Vault 909. He was their _leader_!

"Yep! I hear he's in the city now, runnin' with the Ragin' Raiders."

"You mean... that incredibly dangerous Raider group?" Josh asked, terrified.

"Y... HIC... yep."

"Son of a bitch..." Josh swore as he walked away. The man looked down and saw the Pip-Boy on his wrist, his eyes widened and he downed the rest of his beer and got up and stumbled out.

Josh sat down at the bar and ran his hand through his hair. Shawn walked over and put a beer in front of him.

Josh looked at it, "You know I don't drink," he told Shawn as he pushed it away.

Shawn pushed it back, "I think you need it today."

Josh sighed and rolled his eyes. He took a swig of the poison and instantly felt at ease.

"Damn," he said, "I've been missing that? hm."

The rest of the day went along smoothly, he served the people that came in, greeting them all lightly. They all gave their consolidations for his loss the year before.

**

* * *

**

M

orty McCole sat in a bar in New Concord, sipping his alcohol with his fellow gang members. Concord, New Hampshire was nearly untouched by the bombs over 200 years ago, and it was currently under the control of the Ragin' Raiders. A man came running into the bar and right up to Morty.

"Boss," he said, panting. "A hawk just came in from Larry near Ailsville. He says... he says one of the Vaulties survived the attack!"

"Hah!" Morty snorted, "Impossible, they would've all died out during the raid."

"He says he was just at the Vault, there were four of our men dead at the entrance!"

Morty dropped his bottle of beer, it smashed against the floor. He looked up at the man standing before him. Face growing red with rage, Morty slammed his fist on the table and stood.

"I want _every_ available son of a bitch here to pack up and get ready to head to Ailsville!"

Everyone looked around and jumped up. They all scrambled around to get their things together.

"Boss that's over a week's travel, do we have the supplies for that?"

"I... don't... care..." Morty said, face getting purple now. "I just want that Vault dwelling son of a bitch DEAD!"

* * *

**8:00pm January 15****th****, 2278**

Josh was leaning on the bar, watching the late night buzz of commotion. Bri came in and walked over to the bar. She sat sat in front of Josh, looking him over.

"Hey," she said cheerily.

"Hey," he said to her. "So, I found out who the inside man was that let the thugs into the Vault."

"What," she hissed, staring at him. "Who was it!"

"The Overseer." At that Bri started shaking her head wildly.

"No," She said. "No, McCoy was a lot of things but he wasn't a traitor. He wouldn't let men into the Vault so they could kill everyone."

"Well," Josh said, "There's something I never told you, when we got here Shawn said that the Vault had been open over 50 years ago. He figured that McCoy was a Raider back then and got in before the Vault was sealed."

Bri stared at Josh. "The Vault was opened?" She asked. "How come you never told me?"

"I don't know," Josh said, staring at an ashtray on the counter. "I didn't think it was very important, that's all."

Josh was thinking really hard and then he felt Bri's hand go over his. He looked up at her, he never really realized it before but she was a beautiful woman. They stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes.

"Kiss her you idiot," Shawn hissed from behind him.

Bri grinned and looked down at the counter and then back up into his eyes. She started moving closer and Josh followed her lead, their lips met and they stayed connected for several seconds before parting. They looked at each other up close for a few seconds.

"Hey, kid," Shawn called over to Josh. When Josh looked up, he said, "Why don't you take the rest of the night off," Josh looked at Bri and smiled. "I got things for the night," he added with a wink.

Josh and Bri walked out of the bar together and went up to their house together, locking the door.

* * *

Josh woke up, and looked at his Pip-Boy: **8:00am, **it read. He looked to his right to find Bri asleep at his side.

He stared at his life long friend for awhile and realized, this was the greatest time of his life. He had a girl, a house, a job... all he was missing was the cherry red sports car and he would have the perfect life! Bri woke up and looked up at Josh.

"Mornin'," Josh said, smiling.

"Morning," she said, returning the smile.

"I have to get to work," Josh said.

"Okay," she said, kissing him.

He waited a minute then said, "I'll need my arm back."

Bri moved, giggling, letting Josh get his arm out. He got up out of bed and walked over to his dresser and grabbed his clothes. He turned back to see Bri staring him down.

"Come by later," Josh said, smiling like a fool.

"Okay, see you later," she told him.

Josh walked out of his house and started down the hill, still grinning broadly. He walked into the bar ready to work, but there was something missing...

"Shawn," Josh called. "Hey ugly, where are you!" He looked around the whole bar. The Ghoul was nowhere to be found. He walked outside and looked up at the guard tower. "Hey Mark," he called. Mark's head popped up from the chair. "You seen Shawn around?"

"Nah," Mark called. "Go try his house."

"Right."

Josh walked over to the house next to the Bar. He knocked three times.

"Shawn," Josh called, knocking again. "Get up ya lazy bastard."

He tried the handle, the door was unlocked. Josh walked in and looked around. The house was two stories, like the bar. He looked around the first floor then trekked upstairs. He walked into the bedroom and let out a shout.

The bed was covered in blood and a corpse lay, half on the bed, half off. It was Shawn.

"Shawn!" Josh yelled. He ran over to the ghoul, checked his pulse, then ran over to the window and threw it open. "Mark!" he shouted. "Mark get over here, _now!_"

Mark appeared at the doorway a minute later, gun at the ready.

"What the hell happened here," Mark said, walking over to the bed. "Josh, there's a note."

Josh walked over and read over Mark's shoulder.

_This is only the beginning, more will die within the week. Better watch yourself Vaulty._

_Signed,_

_Larry_

"Who the hell is Larry?" Mark asked.

"I don't know... I... wait," Josh thought of the thug from the morning before. "Oh my god..."

"What?" Mark asked.

"I think McCole is gunna come after me..."

"Who?"

"McCole, the guy that let the men into the Vault. He was our leader, now he's the leader of the Ragin' Raiders."

"What! You know how dangerous they are!"

"Yeah, and now they're probably on their way here."

Mark looked horrified, he ran out of the house and to the guard tower. He sounded the alarm that signaled a town meeting. When everyone had formed in the center of town Mark ran to the platform where he delivered news.

"Sorry to wake you all up so early," Mark announced, "But we need to evacuate the town."

There was chatter amongst the townspeople.

"Listen!" Mark yelled, "Josh Romano just found Shawn dead in his room. He was killed by a Raider, a Ragin' Raider."

At the name of the most dangerous gang in the Wastes everyone started to freak out.

"OI!" Mark bellowed. Everyone hushed. "Listen! We need to leave _now_. Before the can get here. Pack up all essentials and meet at the entrance to the town."

Josh sat on the porch of the Bar, barely listening. He knew what he had to do. He had to step up and face what was coming to him. He knew McCole wouldn't stop until he was dead. So he was going to stay behind. Bri saw that in his eyes when she found him.

"No!" she cried. "No I won't let you! They want me too!"

"No," Josh argued, "they don't know about you. You are going with the rest of town."

"But Josh, I can't leave you here!"

"Bri listen to me," Josh said, grabbing her shoulders. "They will not stop, until I am dead. If I stay here and die now they may not even touch the town. They may leave it untouched. Go with them and when you see that my beacon on your Pip-Boy goes out you know it's safe to come back."

Bri started to sob and Josh brought her into a hug. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes.

Everyone met up at the entrance of the town. They all prepared to leave. Mark walked up to Josh.

"You sure you wanna do this?" he asked him. "I doubt you'll come outta this alive."

"I know," Josh said, "and I am prepared for that. Just do me a favor, if I do die, take care of Bri for me."

"Of course." Mark said.

"So long, man." Josh said, patting Mark's shoulder.

"See yeah Vaulty." Mark said. He turned and told the townspeople it was time to go.

* * *

The day had just been coming to a close when Josh heard something walking around outside his house. He grabbed his shotgun.

"Showtime," he breathed to himself.

He kicked the door open and looked left, then right, no one. He ran around the other side of his house, nothing.

"What the..." he started but just then he was ambushed, tackled to the ground, his gun was taken and he was thrown up against the wall.

"Keep your trap shut smoothskin," came a strangely familiar voice.

"Shawn," Josh breathed, shocked.

"Yeah, that's right ugly," he muttered, grinning in the darkness.

"But how," Josh asked, "I saw you, you were dead."

"I'll explain later, lets just get the hell out of here!"

"No, I'm not leaving. I have to stay and finish this."

"You don't get it do you," Shawn muttered. "They won't stop at you, they know about Bri too."

"How did they..." Josh started but Shawn stopped him.

"That big oaf from the bar must have run across her. The important thing is that we have to get you as far from here as possible!"

"O-okay," Josh said hesitantly. And so they left Ailsville, not knowing if they would ever return.


	3. The Brotherhood of Steel

Josh and Shawn were making their way through the Wastes, away from the coming group of Raiders. They walked in silence, Josh's mind was racing, he had so many questions but he didn't know where to start. Finally he figured he would just start simple.

"Why did you fake your death," he asked.

The Ghoul sighed, "Well," he said, "I knew that the only way to get everyone out of the town was to see the seriousness of the situation."

"Why didn't you just tell us?"

"Yeah, how many times do people listen to what a ghoul has to say?"

Josh sighed, he knew it was true. No matter how loved he was, nobody listened to Shawn when it came to something serious. Like when the town was about to be attacked by Super Mutants, Shawn ran into the town screaming, "Everyone prepare yourselves! Super Mutants are on their way here to attack!" But everyone just continued on their business as usual. When Super Mutants really did attack they lost 5 people, one of them being Shawn's wife. After that he never really warned anyone about anything.

"Anyway, I needed to get you and Bri alone, but like an idiot you sent her along with the rest of the town, so now we have to find her and get you two to safety."

"Safety? Where would we possibly find safety, Shawn?"

"I used to roll with a group of true American heroes," Shawn explained, "they call themselves the Brotherhood of Steel. They're stationed all over the country. The most successful squadron is in D.C though. Did you know they actually got a water Purifier down there?"

"Really," Josh had stopped listening, he was thinking about where Bri might be right now...

* * *

Bri was walking slowly at the back of the large group of people, they were heading for the one safe place that still existed, Vault 909. They figured they could hide out there until the heat was down then they could go back to the town. Bri didn't like the idea, there were all the dead bodies and it's been a year, the whole Vault probably smells like corpse.

They walked on nevertheless, though. Bri wished she could've stayed behind with Josh. They had _just_ gotten together and they were already torn apart. She had cried most of the journey, no one bothered to comfort her, why should they? Her boyfriend was the cause of them having to leave their homes to go live in a hole.

Bri looked up from her feet to see that she had gradually fallen behind. The group was yards ahead of her, she started to run forward when something flying through the air caught her eye, it was a grenade. She was about to call out to the group when a hand clasped over her mouth and dragged her back toward a decrepit house. She kicked and punched and when the hands were removed from her mouth and stomach she turned and punch her captor in the mouth and turned to run and then realized who she just punched. She turned back and saw Josh holding a hand up to his now fat lip.

"Josh," Bri shrieked and ran to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"_Shh_," came a voice from the darkness, "are you trying to get us killed?"

Bri spun on the spot and saw Shawn. She almost let out a scream but Josh put his hand over her mouth again. There was an explosion, a second grenade was thrown. Screams and yells from the townspeople came from outside.

"Josh," Bri whispered after the hand was removed from her mouth, "we have to do something!"

"We can't," Josh hissed, "they are after us, we have to go to the Brotherhood of Steel."

"The who?"

"_Shhhhh!_" Shawn hissed. They all stood there in silence as Bri heard a very familiar voice ring out into the night

* * *

Morty stood atop the old school building, looking down at the survivors of the grenade explosion. Amongst those survivors was their leader, Mark. Morty surveyed the group of no more than 4 people. Then he spoke.

"Alright," he shouted. "You're free to go back to your town if you explain to me where the Vault Dwellers are!"

Mark piped up, loud and proud. "Josh is back in town. Bri, well," he looked around, "you probably killed her off with the grenade."

Morty looked at his second in command, Jake, who handed him a 10mm. Morty aimed and fired at Mark's leg.

"Do not lie to me," he said calmly. "We were just at the town and it was empty."

Mark's eyes widened.

"Please," he said, tears streaking down his face, "when we left he was there!"

Another deafening bang, Mark's other knee cap was blown to pieces.

"Where _are_ they," Morty snapped.

"I don't... I don't," Mark sobbed.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!* Mark fell down to the ground, dead. There were three people left, all women, all sobbing over the bodies of their husbands and children.

Morty turned and walked away.

"Kill them," he told Jack. Jack waved his hand up and swiped it down in front of him. The men with Assault Rifle all fired, killing the women.

Morty got back in the Jeep and headed toward the only place he could think they would be.

* * *

Josh stood there, listening to the gunshots kill the people he had grown to like. He looked up as he heard car engines start up and the sound of tires moving on gravel fading away. The three of them walked outside and Josh had to block Bri's eyes so she wouldn't look at the sad sight of all their friends dead. Death seemed to follow them around, everywhere they went people died.

They started back toward town, though when they got there there were men stationed everywhere. Josh looked at Shawn.

"What now?" he asked the ghoul.

"I have to get to my house," Shawn said, sighing heavily.

"Alright," Josh said, putting on an air of optimism, "Shouldn't be a problem!"

But as they approached the gate they saw it _would _be a problem, there were 15 men, if not more.

"Is there another way to get into your house?" Josh asked Shawn.

"Through the bar," he said, nodding toward a door that was completely unguarded.

Josh looked at Shawn. He said, "You know there is probably more guys in there, right?"

Shawn nodded, "Maybe if you can distract them without getting yourself killed I can run in real quick grab what I need and we can get the hell out of there."

"They have cars," Josh pointed out, "they'll be able to catch us no problem."

Shawn looked over at Josh with a devious smirk on his face, "Don't worry about that kid, just get out there and distract them and when I'm done, you'll know when I'm done." With a wink Shawn positioned himself, ready to run.

Josh ran into the town and launch a grenade into the middle of 5 Raiders and it exploded, send the 5 flying and causing the other 10 to turn toward him.

"Ohhh shit," Josh said, smiling slightly. He turned and ran off, 10 Raiders on his ass.

* * *

Shawn had to admit, the smoothskin could really turn some heads. Chuckling the Ghoul ran towards his bar. He stopped at the side door, crouched, and opened it a crack. He didn't hear anything, so he crept inside and shut the door softly behind him. He stalked across the room and leaped over the bar. No one was in here. He made his way to the secret door leading into his house, the same door he snuck through after faking his death.

He walked through the empty house and went down into his basement. And found the Vertibird he had found out in the wastes and snuck into town. He had been working on it for a year, after the Enclave had fallen. He climbed in and flipped it on, the engine roared, and Shawn hit the switch he had installed, detonating his house so he could get out. He started to rise and he heard screams from below. He flipped on the intercom.

"_Josh,"_ he heard his projected voice say, "_Get the girl and jump on!_"

Josh grabbed Bri by the arm and the ran forward, climbing in the back. The door shut and Shawn pushed the lever up and the started to rise into the air.

"_Woo!"_ Shawn yelled into the intercom. "_So long smoothskin bastards! Hahahaaaa!"_

They flew north towards the Mall of NH, the base of the New Hampshire Brotherhood of Steel.

* * *

Paladin Joseph Craw was sitting in the mess hall when his boss Sentinel McCormick walked in. Craw stood and saluted the Sentinel.

"At ease Paladin," McCormick said. "Listen, I need to ask you a favor."

"Anything, sir," Craw said, standing up straight.

"Well, we have a man coming in later, our Brothers from D.C tell us he is the one who helped them get the Purifier running. They think he can help us with our... Raider problem."

"And you want me to make him feel at home, yes?"

"Affirmative," McCormick confirmed. "Can you do this for me, Paladin?"

Craw saluted, "Yes sir!" he said loudly.

That evening Craw stood waiting at the front entrance of the Mall, waiting for the Lone Wanderer of Vault 101. Then he heard a Vertibird coming in from the south. There were two of them. They both touched down in the parking lot and Craw walked over to the two flying machines. The one on the left opened up and a Ghoul walked out, Craw didn't recognize him and then a boy and girl walked out from behind him. They both had Pip-Boys on their wrists. From the bird on the right came a young lady in the blue armor of the Brotherhood, he recognized her as Sentinel Sarah Lyons, of the Lyons' Pride. From behind her stepped a rugged looking man, also wearing a Pip-Boy.

Lyons approached the Ghoul, it looked as though she was going to snap his neck. Then, she smiled and grasped his hand, shaking it vigorously.

"Its good to see you again Elder Johnson," she greeted him cheerfully.

"Back at ya, Sarah," Johnson replied, returning her nice smile.

* * *

Josh walked up to the Lone Wanderer and stared at him for a little while. Then he noticed the Pip-Boy on his wrist.

"You're from a Vault," Josh pointed out.

"Yep," he said, "Fresh from Vault 101... or as fresh as you can be after a year away from home, traveling the Wasteland searching for your father." He let out a rough chuckle. Then he looked down at Josh's Pip-Boy. "You are too?"

"Yeah," Josh told him. "Vault 909, everyone there was massacred by a group of crazy ass Raiders."

"Oh," Lone Wanderer said, "I, uh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's nothing," Josh assured him. "It was a whole year ago."

"Really," Lone Wanderer said. "What day last year?"

"The fifteenth of January," Josh said.

"Th-that's when I left my Vault," Lone Wanderer said, amazement clear on his face.


	4. The Plan

Josh and the Lone Wanderer, who just told them all to call him 101 as he didn't want people to know his name, were sitting in the food court, there were some tables scattered around. They had decided that them leaving their Vaults at the same time was a coincidence.

They were eating steak when Shawn came running in, dressed in BoS recon armor.

"Hey," he said, panting. "you better get to Bes Uy."

Bes Uy was the intercom room. It had televisions, radios, and CDs. 101 was fascinated by the TVs. He said they didn't have them in D.C. They just had Galaxy News Radio and the DJ played the same songs over and over again, and they were all songs from the 1950s!

The two looked around the Prewar store and found Lyons and Craw standing at the monitors that showed the security cameras. They walked up and looked at the screen. What they saw made Josh feel sick. From the sign that said MALL OF NH, there hung a man with a BoS mask on hanging from his neck by what looked like his own intestines. His torso was sliced vertically and his guts hung out from the hole. There was a sign hanging from his stomach. It read: _You are next Vaulty. You can't hide forever. Morty._

They all looked at Josh who had gone pale and look on the verge of puking.

"What do we do," Craw asked the group.

"Well," 101 started, looking around at the other three, "I think we should fight these assholes."

Craw sighed and said, "Mr. 101, things are run differently up here. We are trying to build a new society here in New Hampshire. We can't just go guns blazing in the middle of a suburban area, someone innocent could be killed."

"Yeah well, innocent people will start dying if we don't do anything," 101 retorted.

Josh piped up, "I think 101 is right here Paladin Craw, if we don't act now more people could die than just the casualties we'll face by fighting."

Craw looked solemn for a minute, but Lyons stood.

"The Vault boys are right Paladin, sometimes you need to sacrifice a few pawns to take out a king."

Shawn ran into the room, "Paladin, Sentinel, McCole is on the VidCOM."

"Bring up VidCOM one," Craw ordered one of the young Knights.

McCole's face came up on the the big screen. When he saw Josh a shocked look crossed his face.

"Josh Romano," he said, chuckling deviously. "Who'da thought _you_ would be the remaining survivor from Vault 909. I have to say, I am surprised. I would've expected your father, or your brother, hell, I would've even thought your mother to get out alive over you."

Josh's blood was boiling, he wanted to retort but knew it would only limit the time they had to prepare for the attack.

"Listen Brotherhood," Morty said, addressing the Paladin and Sentinel, "Just hand the boy over and no one has to die."

"Yeah," 101 snorted, "except for Josh."

Morty turned to look at the Lone Wanderer.

"And who do we have here," he asked pleasantly, then he seemed to notice the Pip-Boy on his arm and said, "Send this one too."

101's cocky look on his face faded and he looked at the others. They mirror his shock and Lyons turned back to the TV.

"Why him," she asked. "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"A lot more than you know," Morty told her gravely. The TV shut down and they were staring at reflections of themselves in the black glossy screen of the television.

* * *

Morty turned from the TV, scowling.

"How could another be alive," he snapped, knocking a cup from the table near him.

"If I may, boss," Jack said, walking up to the big screen. "Pull up a freeze frame of the two Vaulties," he ordered the man at the operating system. When he did Jack said, "zoom in on the Pip-Boys." Again the man did as he was asked and zoomed in on the two, clearly different Pip-Boys.

"As you can see," Jack pointed out, "The two Pip-Boys are clearly different. The one from your Vault, had the newer 3000 edition. This unknown Vaulty has an older, but still affective, 2000 version."

"Yes," Morty said impatiently, "What is your point Jack?"

"Well, if we search the Vaults that use the 2000 edition of the Pip-Boy," again he addressed the man at the operating system. A screen popped up and showed a hand full of Vault numbers. "You can see that the only area in the U.S that uses the 2000 edition is in the D.C area, this is the Lone Wanderer from Vault 101."

Morty's face lit up, "Ahh, James' son! How could I not see the resemblance! Excellent work Jack, excellent! We shall take him out as well."

Someone in the room asked, "Sir, why is it so important to eliminate these Vaulties?"

Morty looked at the man who said it. He was a young man, not a day over 20, so young, so innocent, so _curious_. Morty walked slowly over to the young man, who turned beet red and looked away.

"My dear boy," Morty said softly, "what is your name?"

"J-J-Johnathan," the man said.

"Well Johnny-boy, let me paint you a picture," Morty looked up at the big screen, "open up the Resurrection Files please."

The file loaded and it showed a map of New Hampshire now, with large blue areas highlighted, and minimal red areas highlighted.

"Now, this is our splendid state," Morty said, bringing the young man to his feet. "Now, as you can see the blue represents where the Brotherhood have set up base. The red indicates all the forces I have spread across the Granite state. Now, obviously there is much more of them then there is of us, so I thought, what if I could make them all just... disappear."

Everyone in the room was listening intently, terrified looks on their faces. Although no one looked as scared as young Johnathan. His face was pale white, whiter than the cleanest lab coat. His whole body shook harder than a fireworks store after the nukes fell. Even his teeth seemed to shake individually.

Morty continued, "Now, of course I couldn't do that without, say, setting the nukes on New Hampshire again," at that everyone seemed to stop breathing. Seeming not to notice his workers being unusually still, Morty went on. "But then I thought of the one device powerful enough to take out a large group of people, without taking out the rest of us."

Morty hit a button next to him and a on the screen appeared blueprints. Everyone gasped, but Morty smiled a deviously.

"I thought, hey, why not take hundreds of mini nukes and load them into a large fatman, aim, and fire at my targets."

Everyone looked aghast, even Jack seemed to grow a shade paler.

"I set the device to be detonated _only_ when I entered my code into my Pip-Boy," Morty continued. "It can be accessed by any Pip-Boy, that my boy, is why I must kill the Vaulties."

Morty looked at Johnathan and he said, "Now dear Johnathan, I must ask, do you have a family at home?"

Johnathan gulped, "Y-yessir," he stuttered.

"Ahh, well, I cannot kill a man with a family. I am not a home-wrecker, after all."

Johnathan seemed to breathe for the first time since he was taken from his seat, he gave a weak smile.

Looked at the mad scientist and said, "Thank you sir, you are very generous."

Morty smiled at the boy, "Don't get too excited son," he said, Johnathan's smile faded. "I said _I_ wouldn't kill a man with a family, but I do believe that Jack here has a record of doing such a thing." Morty turned to Jack, who nodded gravely.

Johnathan nearly fainted at the sight of the man, he always did fear the right hand of a madman. Jack pulled his customized .44 magnum, it had a larger barrel and wasn't technically a .44 anymore. It could fire .50cal bullets. Morty patted Johnathan on the shoulder and turned to walk out. As he walked through the door, and there was a loud BANG and the sound of brains hitting the wall and a body falling to the ground.

Morty smirked, chuckling as he strutted along the hallway.

* * *

101 was sitting in his room, thinking hard when there came a knock on his door.

"Come in," he called through the door.

The door opened and Sentinel Lyons walked in, not dressed in her blue armor though. She sat down next to the Lone Wanderer and looked at him.

"What you think," she asked him. "You think we can save this area like we did the Capital?"

101 looked at his hands and picked his words carefully, as he often did, and said, "Well, if we get rid of these raiders, these "Ragin' Raiders" I believe it is possible. We can give the scientists here the purifier blueprints and they can build one for themselves and distribute them across the Granite Wasteland."

Lyons looked up at 101 thoughtfully. "You're brilliant," she told him, "you know that?"

101 smiled, blushing slightly. He moved his hands over to Lyons'.

She looked up at him and pressed the button on the wall to lock the door. She then took 101's Pip-boy and flipped on some music, and they stayed there the night, leaving together the next morning for breakfast.

* * *

Josh sat up late in Bes Uy, he stared at a blank computer screen, the computer had long since switched into sleep mode as he stared at a picture from the Vault. He held a glass of whiskey in his left hand and his right hand on the table, tapping with his right index finger. The door opened behind him and Bri came in with a tray of food.

"Hey," she said quietly so she wouldn't startle him.

He didn't look back at her, "Hey," he returned absently.

Bri looked at the blank screen and the bottle of whiskey that was half empty.

"Wow," she said shaking her head, "Your bottle is half empty."

Josh looked at the bottle, not moving his head.

"Funny," he said, "I'd've said it was half full."

Bri smirked and sat on Josh's lap, staring into his eyes.

"Something is really bothering you," she said, searching in his eyes, maybe thinking she would find an "X" that marks the spot to where this problem may lay.

Josh sighed and looked up into her eyes, he said, "Its just, why does Morty want me and 101 dead? I mean, it couldn't be because he's afraid I could ruin the whole operation he's got going on or anything."

"Actually," came a voice, "it does."

Josh's head snapped up to look at the big screen. He didn't recognize the face but Bri sure did.

"You," she gasped, "You're the guy that killed everyone from Ailsville!"

The man looked solemn, "Yes," he said, sighing deeply, "That I am..."

"What do _you _want?" she asked bitterly.

"I... I want to help you stop McCole." he said, eyes shut tight.

"Yeah," Bri snapped, "well we don't want your help!"

"Bri," Josh said, staring at the man on the TV. "We do," he told the man.

The man looked up to reveal the scar on his left face, and Jack said, "Good, because I have a plan."


	5. Exicuting the plan

At breakfast the next day the 3 Vault-dwellers were in the food court of the old mall, mapping out their plan. They all had their Pip-Boys opened up to the map.

"Alright," Josh started, "so if we're gunna do this we need to sneak in from three different sides."

101 was looking grave. "Listen," he said, "I don't know if trusting this guy is a very good idea."

Bri looked up, "Me either, I mean McCole's second in command telling us that we can stop this totally impossible plan, all we gotta do is walk straight into their base of operation. I mean come on Josh, we are walking into a trap!"

"You saw the look in his eyes," Josh said impatiently. "He really wants to stop this guy."

101 and Bri looked at one another. Finally Bri looked at Josh, who was trying to find the best route into the Concord city hall, which was the Ragin' Raider's base of operation.

"Josh," she said softly. "I don't think we should go."

Josh looked up at her, an annoyed look on his face.

"Fine," he said look back down at his Pip-Boy, "you don't have to go if you don't want."

Bri's face lit up. "Great! Then its settled, we are going to find another way to do this!"

"No, no," Josh corrected. "_You_ aren't going... I am still planning on going."

Bri's face darkened again. "No," she said, shaking her head. "I don't want you to go."

Josh sighed, hands landing heavily on the table.

"Fine," he said, "I won't go."

Again, Bri's face lit up. She stood up and walked behind Josh.

Kissing him on the cheek, she said, "Good, I'm gunna go shower." And she walked off.

Once the girl was out of ear shot 101 looked at Josh slyly.

"You lying little bastard," he said smiling.

Josh grinned deviously, "If she doesn't wanna come that's fine, but I know I can trust Jack."

101 shook his head, "I won't stop you from going. I know a little bit about going places people have told me was too dangerous. This is something you have to do for some reason, and I respect that."

Josh looked at 101, and for the first time he felt like he could relate to the scruffy looking Vault-dweller from D.C.

* * *

That night Josh laid down in bed with Bri, same as every night. When he was sure she was asleep,he slipped out of bed and got his clothes on. He opened the door slowly, and walked out. He looked around the dark mall for a minute, then headed toward the marker on the compass set on his HUD. He made it to the door when there were footsteps behind him. He turned to see Shawn and 101 tiptoeing toward him.

"What are you guys doing out here," he asked in a whisper.

"Well," Shawn started, "I wanted to come with you, to make sure you were okay. This smoothskin decided to follow me."

101 looked at Shawn for a minute before he looked back at Josh.

"I figured you could use a hand, and if needed maybe a Pip-Boy too," he said, holding up the arm with his Pip-Boy on it.

Josh looked at the two men for a minute, then nodded. Together the three men turned and walked out of the Mall.

They walked in silence, not knowing whether or not something is gunna jump out and attack them. Josh had out one of the machine guns he had taken off the men in the Vault more than a year before, Shawn had out a .44 magnum, and 101 had out a sawed-off shotgun he called the Kneecapper. They walked for an hour and a half before they reached a settlement called New Hooksett. By that time it was 3a.m so not many people were out and about, but when they reached the south side of the settlement they were stopped by what looked like a guard.

"Alright stay where you are," he told them. "Holster your weapons."

The three did as they were told and the man opened the gate. They walked in and the man looked at them.

"State your business," he demanded forcefully.

Josh cleared his throat, "We're just passing through," he explained. "We won't cause any trouble."

"Where are you headed," he asked curiously.

"Concord," 101 piped up.

"Concord?" the man said, eyes narrowing. "Why would you wanna go there?"

Josh looked at 101, who looked at his feet guiltily.

"We are going to stop the Ragin' Raiders," he told the guard.

The man snorted, "Well, good luck with that. You may pass, but I will have men on you until you get to the other side of the town."

With a snap of his fingers 5 men made a circle around the 3 of them. Slowly they made their way to the other side of the town, people staring the whole way. As they walked they heard people whisper. "Are they Raiders? No, no I think they are Brotherhood. No, they can't be, the Brotherhood wouldn't let a _ghoul_ join them." The crack about Ghouls made Shawn turn to look at the man who had said it. The man seemed to shrink under Shawn's glare.

They made it to the other side without any problems, but when they got there, they heard a shot ring out across the town, everyone ducked at once and then panic seemed to course through the whole town. People ran around screaming, kids cried out for their mothers, mothers screamed out for their husbands, husbands cried out for their weapons as they searched the town for the source of the gun shot. The men around Shawn, 101, and Josh looked around at the three of them and the biggest of the five spoke.

"Alright," he said in a gruff yell, "we are going to let you free, fight with use if you want, or flee, your choice."

Breaking into a run, the three started for the gate, but then 101 slowed to a stop. The other two looked back at him.

"I can't leave this town under attack," he told them.

Josh looked at him in disbelief, "101," he said blankly, "This kind of thing probably happens all the time, come on, Concord is a 3 hour hike through these doors!"

"Then you guys go on," 101 said walking backward toward the town. "I'll meet up with you guys there."

Josh was ready to argue but before he could pursue the matter further 101 was running back into town the the Kneecapper in hand. Josh turned to Shawn, who merely shrugged and motioned toward the door. Josh nodded and they walked through the gate and headed forward, toward possibly the last day of their lives.

* * *

The security guard sat up late, staring at the cameras, he didn't see why he should have to sit there watching the stupid things, its not like anyone was stupid enough to break into the base. He was taking a drag of his cigarette when the door opened.

_Great, _he thought, _my relieve is here!_

He started to get up and turn. The only words he could say were, "Hey, Jimmy. You're ear..." before he saw the flash of a gun, and life escaping his body, as he saw the man standing before him.

"Sorry Mark," Jack said, still holding his Silenced .22 pistol out in front of him. "But Jimmy is a little... tied up." He chuckled at his stupid joke, thinking of the young man names Jimmy lying in the maintenance closet down the hall, bound and gagged. He sat at the security station and stared at the monitors, waiting for the Vault-dweller to show up on the screen.

"Come on kid," he muttered. "I don't have long."

Just then there was movement, he zoomed in on the thing making the movement, it was the Vault-dweller making the signal. Jack made the camera move up, down, left, and right. Signaling that it was him. It was time...

* * *

"Kid," Shawn said, binoculars against his face. "That's the signal, its him."

Josh broke into a run, Shawn close behind him. They reached the bottom of the hill. And ran up to the gate. It unlocked and they walked in, they were approached by Jack who spoke in a hushed voice.

"Alright," he said, opening the bag he had at his waist, pulling out two uniforms he threw them to the two men. "Put these on. Once you have them on no one should realize you are who they should be looking for."

Josh and Shawn dressed and looked at each other.

"Wow," Shawn said, "If I didn't know it was you, Josh, I would kill ya."

Josh turned to Jack, "Where's this bomb thing?" he asked.

"Follow me," he gestured toward the warehouse.

Jack started off at a jog and Josh and Shawn followed. They made it all the way there without anyone realizing who they were. It wasn't until they got to the warehouse when someone started asking questions

"Hey Jack," the guard said. "Who are your friends?"

"Rookies," Jack said. "I want to show them the You-Know-What, to show them what being on the other team is like."

The guard seemed to look Shawn and Josh over for a minute. At first they didn't think he would let them in, but then a dark grin crossed his face.

"Heh," he chuckled, "I bet they'll shit their pants when they see it. Go on in."

He opened the door and the three of them all walked inside. What they found inside was enough to make anyone shit their pants. A rocket, nearly 500 feet long stood before them. Strapped onto the rocket was about a million mini nukes. There was a terminal next to the rocket.

"That the control panel," Josh asked, gesturing towards it.

"Yup," Jack confirmed. Josh walked over to it, there was a wire hanging from the terminal. Josh assumed its what plugged into the Pip-Boy. He took the wire and plugged it into the the small device. After the terminal said he was linked up he set to work, deciphering the password set on the terminal. Just then there was the sound of metal moving, someone was coming into the warehouse. Jack saw this too for he ran to the door to stop whoever it was from seeing what Josh was doing.

Shawn walked over to Josh, "Kid, our luck is unfortunately turning," he said.

Josh didn't take his eyes off the screen, just said, "What?"

"It's that son of a bitch, McCole."

Josh tried to turn, but Shawn stopped him. "Don't look, he may see your face."

Josh kept his eyes on the screen, listening hard to the conversation happening behind him.

"Let me in Jack," Morty ordered.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but there are some rotted boards and... uh."

"Shut it, I know who's in there!"

"What do you..." Jack couldn't finish, there was a loud bang and the sound of a body hitting the floor, luckily I had cracked the password and was at the shut down screen.

"Step away from the terminal Joshua," Morty ordered, the sound of a cocking gun coming from his hand. Josh sighed, he knew he was going to have to do the one thing that would save the Brotherhood. He typed a few commands, he heard a gun shot, and felt blood trickling down his back. He fell to his knees but had time to the launch button when he heard another gunshot, but didn't feel the second bullet hit him. He fell back into arms that were outstretched. Shawn had caught him.

"Hang on kid," he told the young Vault-dweller. Shawn looked around and found a lead refrigerator. "Well, I guess this'll work." He dragged Josh over to the fridge and opened the door.

"_Impact, in 5... 4..."_ a computer generated voice was saying.

There was nothing in the fridge so getting the kid in wasn't a problem. He put the kid in and looked around Jack laid dead on the ground, Shawn felt pity for the man. But it quickly heard,

"_2... 1..." _He jumped in the fridge with Shawn just in time. He heard the deafening BOOM and felt the fridge lurch...

* * *

Bri awoke to find herself alone in the bed. Thinking Josh must have woken up early to go to breakfast with 101, she got up and got dressed. She looked up at the mirror to see how she looked, but found something she had not seen before, a note. She looked at it and turned pale white, she read it again and again.

_Bri,_

_I know I promised not to go, but I have to. Don't you see? This could be the only chance we have to stop McCole and his Raiders. I'm sorry. I just needed to tell you... I love you Briana._

_Take care, and hopefully see you soon,_

_Josh_

Bri fell back onto the bed, tears streaking from her eyes. There was a knock on the door and Sentinel Lyons came in.

"Bri," she said, looking at some paper work. "Have you seen Jo..." She looked up and saw the young woman crying. "Hey, whats wrong?"

Bri passed her the not and Lyons swore...

* * *

101 stood there, on top of a building, staring down at the dead bodies of all the raiders who thought they would pillage in this village.

He chuckled to himself, '_Pillage in this village' heh heh, I am _so_ clever._

He was feeling pretty good about himself until he heard a series of explosions from behind him. He turned and saw multiple mushrooms erupt from the direction of Concord. None big enough to reach New Hooksett, but big enough to remind 101 of why he had been down this way in the first place.

"Oh shit," he exclaimed, he leapt from the building, landing hard on the ground. Stumbling a little he sped for the south gate of New Hooksett. He ran through the gates, he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything to help anyone in the radiated area. He ran on nevertheless, on and on.

He got about halfway there when he heard a sort of... whistling sound. He looked up and saw an object flying toward him. He leapt out of the way just in time as the box type thing landed, piercing through the dirt. He looked up from where he landed to see a dented refrigerator, he could hear moaning and banging from inside. He walked up to the fridge, pulling out his Laser Rifle. He opened the door and took aim...

Josh and Shawn fell out of the lead box, blood leaking from the boy, and vomit residue on Shawn's mouth.

"Luckily I managed to... keep some of it off the kid's wound," he said, falling out of the fridge, unconscious.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," 101 yelled, dragging the men with him as he made his way to a car on the side of the road, he figured it would still be in good condition. He hot-wired the old corvette and loaded the two men into the back. He got in the driver's side and sped toward the Mall.

* * *

Sentinel McCormick sat in his room, typing on his terminal, when there came a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called and a young Paladin ran in.

"Sir," he saluted.

"At ease son," McCormick said, not looking up from his terminal.

"Sir," the Paladin said, "you might want to come and see this."

McCormick looked up from the terminal and studied the young man. Then he got up and followed the man. They walked into Bes Uy, and saw a massive explosion marked on the map in the general area of Concord.

"Good God," McCormick muttered. "What the hell happened?"

"The Vault-dwellers succeeded," Sentinel Lyons said. "They ended the Ragin' Raiders."

"But, what about them then," McCormick said grimly. "Did they survive?"

"We don't know sir," a Knight said.

"Wait," Paladin Craw said, looking around the room. "Where's Johnson?"

"The Ghoul?" McCormick asked. "I don't know, I figured he would be with you."

Bri stepped forward, "I know where he is," she said, tear streaks still glistening on her face.

"Really," Craw asked, "Where?"

"With Josh."

Craw looked at his feet. Then his head snapped up.

"Doesn't he have a radio on him?"

"Maybe," the same Knight from earlier said, spinning his chair to look at the screen. He typed in a few commands into the terminal and said, "I got him, he's just passing through New Hooksett. He's gathering speed!"

Craw and McCormick ran to the terminal and looked at the screen. I small flashing beacon was jumping across the screen at amazing speed.

McCormick started to say, "The only thing that can travel that fast is..." When a voice came from the intercom.

* * *

"Sir," Jason O'Hearty said into the intercom, "Unidentified vehicle inbound. Requesting permission to fire."

"_Fire... I repeat... fire on that vehicle!"_ came the Sentinel's voice.

"Alright boys," O'Hearty yelled, "FIRE!"

"_Nooo!" _came McCormick's voice. "_Don't fire, I repeat don't fire!_"

But it was too late, the Brotherhood fired at the corvette speeding toward them...


	6. The Aftermath

101 was speed forward, the Ghoul was coming to, but the Vault-dweller from Vault 909 was still out of it. He had his eyes trained on the road, he had never driven a car before, he knew how to hot-wire from his engineering class in the Vault. He swerved a lot but that was mainly to avoid the patches of missing road.

A group of Super Mutants had been chasing them on motorcycles for quite awhile. Shawn fired hazily at the bumbling idiots and 101 concentrated on the road, swerving left or right whenever a Mutie got passed Shawn.

The mall was insight when bullets started raining down on them. 101 swore and swerved off the road, Mutants right behind him. Luckily the bullets hit quite a few of the Mutants behind them, unluckily one also lodged itself into 101's left shoulder.

"Dammit," he swore, swerving more violently than before.

"Hey, 101," Shawn yelled over the chaos. "You alright?"

"Yeah," 101 yelled back hoarsely, "Why are they firing at us? We're on their side!"

"I don't know, but I hope they recognize us before we get too close."

"Why?" 101's voice cracked. "What happens when we get too close?"

"They have an pulse minefield around the perimeter," Shawn said, firing at shot at a Mutie who had grabbed the car. "If they don't shut it down, we're toast..."

* * *

Craw and McCormick sprinted up the stairs heading toward the roof. Craw, being younger and fitter, was leading the way. McCormick was starting to grow breathless with all the running. They pushed through the door leading out onto the roof and started waving their arms and screaming.

"Stooooopppppp!" Craw yelled, jumping up and firing his .22 into the air. "Knock it off you fucking idiots!"

A soldier turned and saw Craw and McCormick and ran to O'Hearty. The Knight walked out and saw Craw and his commanding officer and yelled, "CEASE FIRE!"

The gun firing stopped and McCormick ran up the stairs and onto the outpost.

"Turn... off... the... pu...lse... field," he said, panting heavily.

"What," O'Hearty asked, confused.

"Do it!"

O'Hearty ran over to the terminal that controlled the pulse field and opened up the shut down screen and hit the enter button. A little window popped up, it said: Pulse field deactivated.

Craw sighed and collapsed, trying to regain his breath. McCormick let out a soft chuckle, the old man was sweating bullets. They both slipped into a comfortable sleep.

* * *

"Oh shit," Shawn swore. "I'm out of ammo!"

101 looked back and saw the Super Mutants coming closer. That's it, they were doomed... or so 101 thought. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw in the rearview mirror, Josh had sat up and was now tinkering with a mini nuke.

"Josh," 101 exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing with that thing!"

Josh did answer, or even acknowledge that he was being spoken to, instead he pulled the tail off the miniature nuclear device and threw it. As it soared through the air the Muties thought nothing of it and kept riding. The nuke hit the ground and a white light erupted from behind them, and a small mushroom cloud stood where the Mutants once rode. Bits and pieces of the Mutants fell all around them.

"Oh my god," 101 exclaimed, "Good work kid!"

He looked back and saw that Josh had slipped back into unconsciousness. 101 turned back toward the road ahead of them and saw a handmade sign.

It read, WARNING! PULSE FIELD AHEAD!

_Lets hope they shut it off_ , 101 thought. He rode, a little slower, but still just as aggressively.

* * *

Bri and Lyons were waiting at the door when 101 bursted in, Josh bleeding in his arms.

"Josh!" Bri yelled, tears jumping from her eyes.

"Get out of the way!" 101 yelled at her. "He's losing blood we gotta get him to the infirmary!"

Bri watched 101 run off with Josh, still crying. She sat on the floor with her head in her knees.

"Hey smoothskin," came the rough, but somehow gentle voice of Shawn. "You looked a little blue, what's up?"

"Its just," Bri started, trying to keep her voice steady. "How could he just run off like that, leaving me nothing but a note? I mean... does he not even care enough to wake me telling me he was going?"

Shawn sighed and slid down the wall to sit next to her.

"Think of it this way," he said. "What would your reaction have been if he did wake you?"

"Um..." Bri said, she knew where this was going.

"You would have begged, no, you would have _ordered_ him not to go, and like the nice guy he is he would have done as you said. Then he never would have stopped McCole and the whole Brotherhood would be screwed."

Bri sighed. She knew he was right, Josh had saved the Brotherhood, and in turn, everyone in the Mall, including her. She looked up at Shawn who looked utterly exhausted.

"Why don't you head off to bed?" She suggested.

Shawn sighed, slapping his knees. "Yeah, I suppose I can do that."

He got up slowly and turned back to the girl.

"You gunna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she told him. _If Josh survives that is_, she said only in her head.

* * *

It was morning, or at least it seemed like it. Josh looked at the watch on his Pip-Boy and saw that it was 5a.m.

He got up and stretched, flinching when he felt the pain in his side. He looked down, there were 5 stitches just above the waist. He touched them, and the pain that followed seemed to bring back the memories of the past few days. He looked around, he was in his room in the Mall. He looked to his right, Bri lay there, fast asleep.

He got up gingerly and dressed. He snuck out of the room and walked silently through the halls of the mall. He past many Knights and a few Paladins, all of whom greeted him with a nod. One actually shook his hand and said, "Great job sir."

Come about 7 in the morning more people were waking up. Josh was in the Food Court when a very familiar voice came from behind him.

"What is it about us Vault-dwellers and not wanting to die?"

Josh turned to see a 101 standing behind him, a wide grin spread across his face. He tossed Josh a Nuka-cola.

"I don't know," Josh said, "but thank God for whatever it is."

"I hear ya," 101 said, taking a drink of the beer he had in his hand.

"How long was I out?" Josh asked.

"I don't know, a year, year and a half?"

"A year!" Josh nearly yelled out in surprise.

"Nah, I'm just kidding," 101 said, chuckling. "It was only like, a week."

Josh clutched his chest, then looked up at 101 and punched him in the arm.

"Asshole," Josh said, chuckling with 101.

They walked into Bes Uy, and walked into a frenzy of mess. People looked up to see Josh and all ran over to him. Knights and Paladins patting his back. Craw and McCormick came over and shook his hand.

"Great job kid," McCormick said sternly, but Josh could've sworn he saw a smile jump to life and then disappear as quickly as it had come.

"Thank you," Josh said, flinching as the impact of another hand hitting his back cause his stitches to vibrate.

"That's sir to you," McCormick said, lifting his head.

Josh looked at him with a puzzling look on his face, then the Sentinel laughed loudly and grabbed the boy's shoulders.

"I'm tellin' you you're one of us now son!" he exclaimed, laughing aloud again. "Lighten up!"

Josh looked at the Sentinel, the look of confusion changing abruptly to shock, then changing to utter happiness.

Then something was dropped over his face. Josh, on instinct, shut his eyes tight and then opened them. Someone had put a Brotherhood helmet on his head. It was weird, he looked at all the Brotherhood Knights and Paladins and a small tab opened up explaining who they were, and what their ranks were.

Then he heard faint footsteps running toward him. He turned and saw Bri running toward him, tears flying from her eyes. He took the helmet off and through it up, 101 caught it as Josh ran by. When they met Josh and Bri embraced in a long, tight hug.

"Bri..." Josh gasped. "I, uh... I can't breathe."

"Oh!" Bri whispered and loosened her grip.

Josh separated from her so he could look at her long and hard. He realized this is where he wanted to be. Not in some stuffy old Vault, but in the vastness of the wastes, with Bri, Shawn, and his new Brothers.

* * *

Ayear ago, the vault-dweller from Vault 909 had set out of the Vault into a world mysterious to him. He met friends in this mysterious world, found love in an unexpected person, and found refuge among the toughest people in the whole wasteland.

And even when the opportunity of revenge was put in his mind, he saw the bigger picture around the dark painting that is revenge. He saw that sacrifice is more worth while than revenge, and that loyalty was a much greater force than revenge. And so the young Vault-dweller from 909 fought the evil that is raiders, and stopped what looked like another nuclear war.

And war... war never changes.

**The End**

* * *

Iknow, I kinda stole the last part from the game, but it is Fallout after all. And what's Fallout without that final speech? Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
